About Chinese Shipwreck Coins

Chinese shipwreck coins were mostly mad in bronze so when the ships sank the warm tropical
waters corroded the bronze coins together in clumps or single coins are heavily
encrusted so ti is rare to find clean Chinese
shipwreck coins

And many shipwrecks go back hundreds of not thousands years
and the coins were not wrapped or stored well so they were not protected when
the junk boat sank

The Chinese kept exact records of ship wrecks as emperors
still considered the coins as their property

The Chinese were amongst the first to use cowry shells as currency
and first to produce bronze coins about 600BC

So there are huge quantity shipwreck coins lying on the bottom
of the ocean and we are all familiar with round coin with a square centre.

The square centre is said to represent inner earth and the
round edge represents the universe

Some collectors have purchased clumps and tried to extract
mint coin in the centre, but w e do not recommend this as so rare to find coin inside
clump in mint or good condition and the bronze has eroded so that coins have welded together